Qustion for those of you who have been successful

My strategy has kind of shifted over time. Keep in mind I've been generally losing more than 2 pounds a week for the last 4 months, so my intake is less than myfitnesspal actually recommends, but I haven't felt any starvation.

When I started, I ate even less than my BMR. I'm 6'2" and started at 295 pounds. My initial intakes were usually from 1700-2000. That seems a little low now that I know better.

My current strategy is simply to eat at the level I expect to eat at my goal weight. Using fat2fitradio, my calculated expenditure (from sedentary to lightly active) is about 2400-2700. Thus, I tend to eat about 2200-2400. This meets might BMR but probably does not count for many of my exercise calories. The reasoning is that my body will already be adjusted to the proper calorie intake when I reach my goal weight, and by eating slightly less than that for a while, it won't plateau above that amount. We'll see how well it works. I'm down to 230 lbs as of the moment.

Like Gvousden I am using fat2fit's calculations and allowing my exercise to create my deficit.

Here's the info if you are interested:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/538381-in-place-of-a-road-map

I think maybe I'm over thinking this whole calorie counting thing....I lost weight in the past on low carb so forgive me if this is new to me.
Let me get this straight.......Lets say MFP has my calories set at 1400 and I burn 400 with exercise.....my actual calorie allowance for the day is 1800? Seems like a lot to me.

Basically yes.

If your body, at your normal daily activity level, burns 1900 calories a day (your total daily energy expenditure as estimated by MFP) and you set a goal to lose 1 lb a week (3500 calories in 1 lb of fat, 3500 / 7 = 500 cal per day required deficit) then MFP gives you a goal of 1900 - 500 = 1400 calories. When you exercise, your TDEE is increased for that day. Say you burn 400 calories exercising. Your TDEE for that day is now the 1900 calculated + 400 exercise = 2300 calories burned by your body that day. You're still targeting that same 500 calorie per day deficit to lose that 1 lb for the week, so your allowed calorie intake goes up 2300 - 500 = 1800 calories.

Not everyone eats back their exercise calories. Seems there are some very polarized opinions about that on here. What I can say is that you would be best served by trying it all three ways (eat all back, eat some back or eat none back) and see what feels best for you. Only you know your body.

I try not to. If I am hungry then I may eat some of them back, but not all of them when I'm trying to lose. I guess it depends on your weight loss goals, how much you want to lose and how fast. When I want to maintain my weight I will eat them back. Just my thoughts! Hope you find what works for you!

I've always eaten mine back and I've successfully lost 14 pounds, albeit slowly. My recommended net is 1200 so I keep to within 50 either way each day and consistently lose 1 pound a week. I generally do about 200 worth of exercise each night, so I eat 1400 per day and its worked really well for me. The only suggestion I will make is not to overestimate your calories burned during exercise. ie, I don't put in cleaning the house or general daily activities like that as I think they are included in my lifestyle calorie estimate. I er on the side of caution and underestimate exercise calories a little. Good luck!

Yes, I always ate them back.

Now that I'm maintaining my weight, I'm amazed at how much I have to eat to not lose weight. I'm going to be 40 and have the metabolism of a 20 year old. :happy:

Underestimate your calories burned, unless you have an accurate HRM or one of those fitnit things, then my advice is to stick to MFP recommended cals, and eat back your accurate exercise cals, or like me, if in doubt, only eat back half of them.

Always eat em back.
If your scale loss has plateau'd then take a few days off and come back with a higher intensity exercise.

Rinse and repeat.

The short answer is yes. Just be sure to be as accurate as possible with what you are logging as exercise and what you log for food. The database on here is full of mistakes so understand the numbers you are inputting.

I used to try and be within 100 calories every day although I did 'save' up some calories for the weekend, it is important to still enjoy yourself. Lots of people beat themselves up if they go over on a particular day but your body does not work like that. Feel free to check out my diary and see for yourself.

Good luck Ax

Underestimate your calories burned, unless you have an accurate HRM or one of those fitnit things, then my advice is to stick to MFP recommended cals, and eat back your accurate exercise cals, or like me, if in doubt, only eat back half of them.

I think the key is to have a bit of a play around with it. I went with what MFP said in terms of calories burnt, which were always the same as what the machines said, and ate every one of those calories whilst still losing weight. If you only eat half of them, you could still be massively under-eating (for instance on those days when you do burn 800cals, to only eat 400 and then attempt the same amount of exercise the next day seems counterproductive)

It seems really odd now looking back, that I was generally eating a regular persons diet every day (the recommended 2000cals) meaning that exercise was the only difference. But because I was seeing 1200 net, it made me feel like I was dieting!

I think the most important thing is to keep your net for the day at or above 1200. If you are set at 1400 and burn 400, you're only at 1000 net for the day and should try to eat back 200. The main thing is not to let your net go too far below 1200 on any day.

I just eat when I'm hungry for the most part and avoid crappy foods. I don't overthink it too much. I generally end up right around my weekly calorie goal. Some days I'm way under. Some days I'm way over.

For those of you who have been successful long term, I am wondering did you eat your exercise calories back or not?

yes. 330+ days of logging, and that's what I've done. I was eating a LOT of calories at the beginning, and lost weight, because I was eating less net calories. Some folks report that MFP estimates of calories burned are high, but I've mostly been using those estimates. Lately I've been using Runtastic calories about half of the time, which are usually a bit lower than MFP. I started out losing about 2 lbs a week, but as I made progress I dropped it to 1.5 lbs/wk. Exercise is good for my heart and cholesterol, and it softens the blow of reducing net calories (on Thanksgiving and Christmas, I burned over 1,000 calories before going to dinner).

My thoughts on "exercise calories" and setting a deficit are here:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ShannonMpls/view/tdee-exercise-calories-an-alternate-way-to-customize-mfp-goals-238045

(I eat more than that now though, minimum of 2040 on a typical day).

I am going to be honest and unpopular. That eat more to lose weight thing never worked for me.
I have to cut calories consistently, and the exercise is just bonus. THE KEY for me was to realize how much better my own body functions on higher protein/lower carb, and to build muscle!